Colour me green (Day 340)…
There’s something very cool about moving into a house that’s been renovated almost exactly to your own taste. In my case, barely any changes have to be made (except for taking down this metallic Star Trek-like orb hovering over the dining room table, which aside from looking completely out of place also emits a disturbing red glow).
Most of the walls have been painted inoffensive neutral tones, which is nice, but I do like me a bit of colour, otherwise I start to feel like I’m in a mental institution. Normally, I’d just make my way to Canadian Tire and go through all the pain swatches until I found something good. But this time, I’m going to make sure I get a brand that’s low in VOCs (or, even better, has none whatsoever).
As this site explains, indoor air is three times more polluted than outdoor air, and the main cause of this is the toxins found in paints and finishes. If you opt, instead of regular paint, to use one that’s made from natural ingredients or is at least low in VOCs, it means less harm to the people living in the house, as well as all the rivers and streams that end up carrying paint (I’ll be washing my brushes as little as possible, of course, and won’t pour any unused paint down the drain — Toronto has scheduled Environment Days when you can drop off hazardous waste like this, then officials take it to the appropriate disposal site).
Treehugger has a list of affordable low-VOC paint brands, so I think I’ll try browsing around a bit before committing to a brand. Anyone have any recommendations?
Image from Green Living Ideas
February 4, 2008 at 12:17 am
It’s been my DREAM to have a house I can paint the colors I want! And I never knew that about paint or the air inside versus outside! Thanks for the info.
February 4, 2008 at 12:39 am
“pain swatches”
I love this typo, because that’s what picking out paint colours was for me - pain. I don’t have the decorating eye
February 4, 2008 at 2:03 am
Check out the mistinted tins at your paint shop as well to see if there’s anything there you’d like - you’ll be saving something from the landfill and not creating more paint unecessarily
February 4, 2008 at 2:37 am
Hahaha, oops!! Wrote this one in a bit of a hurry… it is kinda funny, though, so I think I’ll leave it instead of editing it…
February 4, 2008 at 2:40 am
I’ve used Benjamin Moore Eco-Spec, and it goes on nicely and covers well. They have a new line out called Aura, which is low VOC and self-priming (eliminating the need to buy/apply a separate primer). It’s pricey but I think once you factor in the price of buying primer it kind of evens out.
February 4, 2008 at 4:36 am
We’ve used AFM Safecoat to paint a bathroom and our son’s nursery. We had custom colours mixed both times, and have been very pleased with the results. It depends on the colour, but we were surprised to learn that it is often the pigment that adds the “voc” and so lighter colours are often better.
February 4, 2008 at 4:03 pm
After using a few different eco-brands my girlfriend and I have settled on Yolo. We experienced many other brands, such as Safe-Coat, bubbling on the wall, especially when applied via spray.
They have a great selection of “real” earth tones. Enjoy.
http://www.yolocolorhouse.com/
February 5, 2008 at 2:26 am
How do you clean the brushes & rollers without rinsing them off? I’ve always wondered this, because I’ve heard that you’re not supposed to get paint in the drains, but I don’t know what the alternative is.
February 5, 2008 at 3:40 am
I don’t know about paints, but I have a suggestion for the paint brushes: If you’re stopping for a while, but plan to paint more with the same brush and the same color, wrap it in plastic wrap (if you have any!) and stick it in the freezer. It’s still wet when it defrosts!
February 5, 2008 at 11:46 am
We’re using Bio Paint
http://www.bioproducts.com.au
no VOCs, working great so far, looks gorgeous.
Plus, for colours you have a base tin and then little pigment tins, so you can mix yourown colours - they have charts that show percentages to use.
But I guess you don’t want to ship paint from Australia!
February 6, 2008 at 2:28 am
We’re using the Benjamin Moore ecospec and it looks great on the walls. As I recall, when we bought it, it was even cheaper than the regular stuff. A strange, but welcome bonus!
February 7, 2008 at 4:42 am
Farrow & Ball offers low-VOC water-based paints. I had my apt painted by my landlord paint my walls a horrendous color, and to add to that, I couldn’t even sleep in the place for about a week because of the fumes. (Plus, it’s a bachelor.) I re-painted it with Farrow & Ball. Zero smell. It’s pretty expensive, but completely worth it.
February 7, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I have experience with the no VOC paint. The best one, also the most expensive $46 a can, is at Rona. It is like butter, the least expensive is CIL and you can get it for about $30 a can at Home Despot, maybe other places too. So but here it the kicker thing the lady at HD told me, as soon as you add colour to noVOC paint it is nolonger noVOC it is low VOC. So my tiny shot of whatever makes my almost white walls, not quite white screwed it all up. So serious colour may be difficult, but I would ask the RONA people as that paint seemed more sophisticated.
February 27, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I just painted with aura. I loved it. low voc, pricy, covered beautifully and any benji moore colors can be mixed into aura